Redback spiders provoke BAE lock-down Shaken BAE Systems staff have recalled the "horror film" moment when they discovered a pack of deadly Oz Redback spiders in a parts crate shipped in from the Lucky Country. According to the Sun, the eight-legged invaders provoked a lock-down of the area at Warton Aerodrome, near Preston, as specialist anti-arachnid operatives …
I doubt it greatly, Red Backs are web spiders if they were in a shipping crate for any length of time they wuold have created some quite nice webs but they wouldnt be running around willy nilly. Also they dont tend to move that fast even when outside of a web...
A small spider which is at most a centimetre in diameter and your fellow Brits were running around screaming? Pack of woosy pansies the lot of them... Havent they heard of a rolled up news paper?
"Redbacks are considered one of the most dangerous spiders in Australia. The Redback spider has a neurotoxic venom which is toxic to humans with bites causing severe pain." Courtesy Wikipedia.
"Little bastards". Courtesy my Australian wife.
Paris, because I bet she's made big tough men tremble with fear ;)
Obviously you didnt read the page you linked to as you will see they have different species names. Australian Redback is Latrodectus Hasselti, US Black Widows are one of 4 species Latrodectus hesperus, Latrodectus mactans, Latrodectus variolus and Latrodectus tredecimguttatus
It is true they are closely related (from the same genus), but they ARE a number of different species (31 to be exact http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widow_spider)
Perhpas you think all dog species are the same too?
If you could cross breed them?
Australian Redback is Latrodectus Hasselti, US Black Widows are one of 4 species Latrodectus hesperus, Latrodectus mactans, Latrodectus variolus and Latrodectus tredecimguttatus
It is true they are closely related (from the same genus), but they ARE a number of different species (31 to be exact http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widow_spider)
"Big, tough men were yelling with fear [...] there are still fears some may have fled to nearby fields and could start breeding"
I really must stop skimming and read more thoroughly! Now I'll need the rest of the day (at least) to get rid of mental images of aerospace engineers mating in the fields of Preston...
"..as specialist anti-arachnid operatives moved in to suppress the threat to the Eurofighter plant."
aka - armed with either a jam jar or a rolled up newspaper, depending on whether lethal or non-lethal force was authorised.
Just think, maybe the Sun can declare itself as the weapon of choice as we rally to defend ourselves!
I worked in a student job about 20 years ago in a warehouse in New Zealand, and part of that was unpacking containers of freight from Australia. One day my workmate pointed out a very large, black, and distinctly alien looking spider making a run for the door of the container we had just opened.
It had to die. Two went into that container. Only one came out.
I have often wondered since then if I saved New Zealand from infestation of... something.
I lived in Oz for a few years and was always told the Redback could give you a really nasty bite, but it was the Funnel Web Spider that was REALLY deadly. In fact, there used to be a bounty on them, catch them alive and you got $50 (I think) from the Guvmint who were (at that time) trying to develop an anti-venom.
Imagine trying to milk a spider of it's venom..., on second thoughts...
Tombstone - obviously.
THE REDBACK ON THE TOILET SEAT
by Slim Newton
There was a redback on the toilet seat
When I was there last night.
I didn't see him in the dark,
But boy I felt his bite.
I jumped high up into the air
And when I hit the ground,
That crafty redback spider
Wasn't nowhere to be found.
I rushed into the missus,
Told her just where I'd been bit.
She grabbed a cut-throat razor-blade
And I nearly took a fit.
I said, "Just forget what's on your mind
And call a doctor please,
'Cause I got a feeling that your cure
Is worse than the disease."
There was a redback on the toilet seat
When I was there last night.
I didn't see him in the dark,
But boy I felt his bite.
And now I'm here in hospital
A sad and sorry sight,
And I curse the redback spider
On the toilet seat last night.
I can't lie down, I can't sit up
And I don't know what to do,
And all the nurses think it's funny
But that's not my point of view.
I tell you its embarassing,
And that's to say the least,
That I'm too sick to eat a bit
While that spider had a feast.
And when I get back home again
I tell you what I'll do,
I'll make that redback suffer
For the pain I'm going through.
I've had so many needles
That I'm looking like a sieve,
And I promise you that spider
Hasn't very long to live.
There was a redback on the toilet seat
When I was there last night.
I didn't see him in the dark,
But boy I felt his bite.
But now I'm here in hospital
A sad and sorry sight,
And I curse the redback spider
On the toilet seat last night.
I'm so sick of spiders!
Here in the states on the east coast we have these spiders that change their colors to depending what color the carpet is. They can be from 1 inch to 3 inches in size and I think they may be related to jumping spiders and or parachute spiders and they are hard as hell to find and capture.
I'm so paranoid I am tempted to buy some 50 square feet of sticky pad to lay on the floor to catch them. They mostly like to try and live on peoples heads.
Grrrr!!!
I was bitten by a redback a couple of months ago by putting my bare foot in a boot without cleaning it out properly.
Cue 3 days/nights without sleep, pain like I've never felt before starting from the feet and working its way up the limbs until my face & scalp started tingling, sweating buckets resulting in losing about 10% of body weight, and continuously whimpering like a baby.
I wouldn't wish it on anyone...
Was eventually given the anti-venom after 3rd return visit to Casualty ward and convincing them I was about to shuffle off this mortal coil. They wait until you're really, properly sick before giving the anti-venom because it can be as bad as the bite. They have a whacking great big needle of adrenalin ready to go when they give it to you in case you turn your toes up instantly.
Back to my best within 30 minutes of the anti-venom. Remarkable stuff!
"Big, tough men were yelling with fear" - its not like they fly across the room and launch themselves at you! Pffft!
'Big, tough men were yelling with fear'
I see no reason whatsoever why redbacks and black widows could not take hold in this country. How do you think they spread around in their indigenous countries? False widows are also web spiders, but my back garden and garage and where I work (Sussex Uni) are crawling with them (I live in Brighton), some of the big ladies get huge. Luckily I have not been bitten, yet.
I wasnt saying they couldnt take hold in the UK, but seriously they are not olympic sprinters. If you open a box and sees a lot of spider, feel free to swear, jumps back and then go and grab the nearest newspaper, spare shoe, hammer (if your desperate) or something and just start killing the little bastards. Red Backs dont jump, they dont run fast, and theyre not facehuggers like in Alien.
Lock the place down if need be to ensure you get all of them, but dont go all to town and start evacuating half the county! There is zero need for screaming and running around like a pansy. Unless of course, as evidenced in this case, your British!
They are fucking everywhere - where I live.
They are actually quite nice spiders. Don't even bother to spray them - even if they are indoors.
Got bitten by one once, on the arm, in bed.....
An interesting bite....
Glad it was only a small one, and it wasn't on the end of my cock - mostly from the days when the old toilets were not plastic flip flip lids and porcelain.
Twas a fairly common injury in those days too.
The BAE wankers? Dump a can of flyspray into the crate. Idiots.
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